Weekend Conference Feb 2014

The International Psychoanalytic Association's Working Group on Family and Couple Psychoanalysis

Weekend Conference, February 6-9, 2014

at the Rockville Hilton Hotel, 1750 Rockville Pike,Rockville, MD

Family and Couple Psychoanalysis Around the World

In this four-day conference, members of the IPA's international working group on family and couple psychoanalysis join with IPI to study comparative ideas about the theory and technique of family and couple psychoanalytic therapy from differing global perspectives. Members of the work group representing South America, Europe, China and North America will be joined by IPI students and faculty as well as other international participants, to offer case material and theoretical ideas on the conduct of family and couple therapy, and its role in generating new ideas for psychoanalysis as applied to individual treatment as well.

The program begins on Thursday, February 6, with a full day devoted to the intensive study of two cases, with discussion from IPI and IPA Work Group Faculty, as well as discussion by the full large group. We continue Friday-Sunday with similar presentations and discussion of cases, and with analysts of the IPA group offering special teaching and supervision of individual, couple and family cases for IPI students and candidates, and with five small affective groups over the three days. The program will close on Sunday with a dialogue among IPI faculty and IPA Work Group members on what we have learned and what we have to look forward to in future meetings.

Conference presentations will include:

Lectures, large and small group discussions, case presentations, and informal "coffee time" to visit with faculty, students, and other conference participants.

Registration for the case presentation and small group discussion is offered free to mental health professionals. Pre-registration is required. To register for this free lecture send an email with your name and contact information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

CE Credit

Full Conference: Approx. 20.5 hours

Saturday AM Only: 2.5 hours.

Saturday Morning Case Presentation and Small Group Discussion

Case Presentation:

Monica Vorchheimer IPA, Buenos Aires

Case Discussant:

David Scharff, IPI

Saturday, Feb 8, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon

Saturday case presentation and small group are open to registration to mental health professionals at no charge. Pre-registration is required. Email your contact information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affective Learning and the Small Group

The Affective Leaning Model is an educational format derived from object relations principles. Faculty, candidates, fellows, students and weekend attendees learn together from didactic material and from experience to integrate cognitive learning and affect, theory and technique, and intrapsychic and interpersonal dimensions or experience.

IPI's affective learning groups are an essential element in The Affective Learning Process. Participants meet in these stable groups twice daily and once on Sunday during the weekend conference in order to integrate their intellectual and emotional reactions to the material at individual and group levels, and to apply this learning to their clinical work. Participants say that the small group is the place where they discuss, argue, wrestle with, experience personally, take in and integrate the theoretical concepts that then become a natural part of how they work clinically.